Just Dance
"Just Dance" is a song by American recording artist Lady GaGa. The song was written by Gaga and produced by RedOne. It features labelmate Colby O'Donis and additional vocals by Akon. It was released as the lead single from Gaga's debut album The Fame in 2008. The song was written by Gaga in ten minutes as "a happy record". An uptempo dance song, "Just Dance" also has influences of R&B and lyrically speaks about being intoxicated at a club. The song has been critically appreciated with reviewers complimenting its club anthem-like nature and the synth pop associated with it. The song has also achieved commercial success by topping charts in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as reaching the top ten in many other countries. In the United States, "Just Dance" was a sleeper hit, spending almost five months on the Billboard Hot 100 before finally reaching the summit of the chart in January of 2009. It scored the third-biggest single-week sum of all time selling 419,000 downloads in just one week and went to become the second best-selling digital song of all time. The music video of the song portrayed Lady Gaga appearing in a party where she plays the song, prompting party-goers to start dancing in enjoyment. Gaga compared her experience of shooting the video with being on a Martin Scorsese set. "Just Dance" was performed by Gaga in a number of live appearances including her first headlining The Fame Ball Tour and the second worldwide tour The Monster Ball Tour. In 2009, the song received a Grammy nomination in the Best Dance Recording category but lost to electronic duo Daft Punk for their song "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". Writing and Inspiration "Just Dance" is written by Gaga and Akon with co-writing by RedOne who also produced the track. In an interview with Heat magazine Gaga explained her inspiration for writing the song. She said, "I was very hungover. I wrote the song in about 10 minutes with producer RedOne. And it was my first time being in a Hollywood studio. Very pristine, big huge room with giant speakers."[6] Gaga wrote "Just Dance" during January 2008 and according to her it was "hard work and a lot of people didn't believe in it at first". In an interview with Contactmusic.com Gaga explained that "Just Dance" is a happy record and is supposed to be appreciated by people going through rough times like losing jobs and homes etc. Gaga further explained with Artistdirect.com that she wanted to write a beautiful record with "Just Dance". Being asked the reason for which "Just Dance" has become popular, Gaga said that she thought, "Everyone is looking for a song that really speaks to the joy in our souls and in our hearts and having a good time. It's just one of those records. It feels really good, and when you listen to it, it makes you feel good inside. It's as simple as that. I don't think it's rocket science when it comes to the heart. I think it's a heart theme song." Critical Reception The song has received generally positive reviews. Matthew Chisling of Allmusic described the song as galactic and compared it to "Money Honey", another track from her album. Alex Petridis of The Guardian called it a "beguilingly compulsive tale of pulling a drug-induced whitey, with a combination of clipped marching beats, sawing electronics and mild R&B flavour that bears a vague resemblance to Nelly Furtado's "Maneater". Ben Norman of About.com said that the song "opens the album like a valkyrie leading the charge ... riding triumphant ahead of her army. If you don't know this song, use your browser. I won't waste time explaining what it sounds like." However he also noted that the song is not groundbreaking and compared it to the works of Rihanna, Chris Brown and Pussycat Dolls. Bill Lamb from About.com called the song tame but catchy enough for Gaga to be noticed by mainstream. He also added that "'Just Dance' has strong energy and features Lady GaGa's striking voice, but it ultimately adds up to rather bland dance-pop." Colby O' Donis' smooth vocals were also complimented. Evan Sawdey of PopMatters.com said that "Just Dance" is an intensely catchy single and is an excellent indicator of what the album was all about. Ben Hogwood of MusicOMH.com praised the song saying, "You won't get many more catchy party odes than the chart topping Just Dance this year, a polished gem set to lodge in your head for the next few weeks." Freedom lu Lac of The Washington Post described the song to be "filled with mindlessly frothy synth-pop that matches low-grade dance grooves with GaGa's icy, almost disembodied vocals about dancing bliss". Lynn Saxberg from The Ottawa Citizen while reviewing Gaga's The Fame Ball Tour, called the song a perfect sing-along club anthem. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine wrote that the song resembles the "desperate train wreck you're likely to encounter getting wasted at any dive on the L.E.S. at four in the morning" as is emphasized by the lyrics. Talia Kranes from BBC called the song irresistible and said that "the catchiness of her songs is sure to cement her place in the list of pop idols". However she mistakenly wrote the name of the song as "Let's Dance". Music Video The video was directed by music video director Melina Matsoukas, and is based on the thematic content of the song of being in a party. The video begins with Gaga arriving with her dancers, Dina and Pepper, at a house party which seems to have ended. One of the dancers puts a Discolite Boombox on, blaring the music through the house. The crowd at the party appear to be sleeping in different areas, and are awoken by the music. They all start to dance, and scenes of the party are inter cut with scenes of a scantily dressed Lady Gaga dancing in a poncho, with a disco ball or in a small rubber pool playing with an inflated killer whale. She wears a blue, lightning-bolt shaped sticker beneath her right eye like that on the single cover, which was a tribute to her music idol David Bowie. Colby O'Donis also appears in the video being flanked by several girls during the "When I come through on the dance floor" interlude. Cameo appearances are made by Akon, Space Cowboy and fellow label hip-hop band Flipsyde. MTV called the video as an ode to the "Me Decade". During an interview with Australian radio in September 2008, Gaga said that "The whole video is performance art about being drunk at a party." In an interview with About.com when asked regarding the shooting experience of the music video, Gaga explained further about the video and her experience behind shooting it. She said, "Oh it was so fun, it was amazing. For me it was like being on a Martin Scorsese set. I've been so low budget for so long, and to have this incredibly amazing video was really very humbling. It was really fun, but you'll see if you ever come to a video shoot of mine one day – I'm very private about those things, I don't really talk to everybody. I'm not like the party girl running around. I might even seem to be a bit of a diva. I'm sort of with myself, in my work head space worrying about costumes, and if extras look right, and placement. I don't just show up for things, you know. That video was a vision of mine. It was Melina the director who wanted to do something, to have a performance art aspect that was so pop but it was still commercial, but that felt like lifestyle. It was all those things, I love it."